MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Fastmediamarco on November 05, 2009, 01:20
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This came out yesterday. They do believe things are getting better but have seen a big decline so far this year.
http://www.fastmediamagazine.com/?p=1905 (http://www.fastmediamagazine.com/?p=1905)
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I am not surprised : not just my own CTR, but also average (general) CTR has been down these last two months. It used to be above 1,10 and it has been below 1 for more than two months now. (right now it's 0,80). Low CTR means (amongst others) less views by customers ...
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Hope they turn around I am planning to put a lot more up there soon. For some reason here in China I can't upload any of my images, the upload will not connect to Alamy. Maybe they will get an FTP soon?
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Hi there - with very tight editing of my portfolio, my CTR averages over 2.5. This helped lead to $600+ sales last month - best for a while. Without the editing, I'd have been sunk.
Alamy results do seem similar to the rest of the maco world - my own agency included.
Rgds
Oldhand
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Hi there - with very tight editing of my portfolio, my CTR averages over 2.5. This helped lead to $600+ sales last month - best for a while. Without the editing, I'd have been sunk.
Alamy results do seem similar to the rest of the maco world - my own agency included.
Rgds
Oldhand
Do you mind if I ask how many images you have there? Just curious about RPI.
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Actually, this is somewhat of a relief to read. My sales there have almost completely dried up. Which is disappointing because I had been gaining some momentum.
Not happy that Alamy's sales are down so dramatically, but relieved it isn't just me.
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Hi there - with very tight editing of my portfolio, my CTR averages over 2.5. This helped lead to $600+ sales last month - best for a while. Without the editing, I'd have been sunk.
Alamy results do seem similar to the rest of the maco world - my own agency included.
Rgds
Oldhand
2,5 CTR .... WOW !!!! Congratulations!!
What do you mean with "editing" : cleaning up keywords?
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Hi there
No problem I have two pseudonyms - one with 1100 - CTR 1.11, new one with 400, CTR - 2.5. Sales have come from new one with higher CTR rate. I think Alamy average them, giving me a 1.80 average.
Previously I put up a lot of "news" pics, with long captions - hence the were in effect stuffed with bad kewords for people looking for stock - my CTR was about 0.25 with no sales for a long time. I am rekeywording these images, which is adressing this problem.
With the newer pics, I edit as tight as humanly possible. "Ayers rock" is just that, not "ayers, rock, australia.". Touch wood it seems to be working, my pics come up in the first couple of pages depending how popular the subject is.
Final point - nothing special about my pics (and illustrations which sell) - simple stuff with good captions.
The 30% drop is just numbers - to the average contributor, they still present a bog opportunity, selling the vast numbers of pics they do.
Rgds
Oldhand
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Sorry - missed the editing question.
I am mid way through changing essential and main keywords.
Take the example of Ayers Rock.
Essential, "Ayers rock", uluhru
Main - all the rest, australia, landmark etc.
Previously I'd have put in - ayers, rock, australia, uluhru, landmark
That meant it would have showed up in a search for any landmark, australian or rock climbing pic etc, etc.
Now to find the image you would have to type in "ayers rock", or uluhru (that's the aboriginal name".
My CTR has been as high as 4.25.
It's a balance between making sure people can find your pictures, and avoiding anything which means they show up in other searches.
I got paid $327 this month, with a balance of $350 due next month.
Had I the time I would be putting more time into this market.
Oldhand
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Thanks for telling us about the re-keywording. My CTR was (has always been) 10 to 20% below average CTR. A few months ago I re-keyworded all photos (I had about 400 then), with no CTR improvement. Reading your post I now realize my re-keywording was not drastic enough to have any result.
On the other hand, Alamy keeps saying that CTR and "Alamy Rank" is not the same thing. CTR is only PART of Alamy rank. No idea what the other parts are though.
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Hi there
Alamy rank could be all sorts - previous number of pics sold, how long you've contributed, are you a world famous photographer, subject matter - all time views - the list could go on.
Actually my Ayers rock example is not the best one, but it does give you an idea. There are 500,000 landmark pictures, 702 "landmark ayers", 2,800 "ayers, rock", 3,100 "uluru", and 740 "ulura, landmark". You get the idea!
There are 159,000 banks - 2,400 "banks, scotland".
The Alamy search algorythmn is pretty good at sorting out results, just don't go mad the the number of keywords, essential or main. Most things will be searched and found in three or four unless it's very specific.
Oldhand
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Hi All,
Yea it is a bummer but every big stock agency outside Micro is down a bunch since last year this time. The good news at Alamy that not all other sites are seeing is they are back up from last quarter which was their low point, it seems that Macro is leveling out and finding it's fit. My returns are all up in Macro this past month. Remember what has happened to our economy since last year this time, that the banks for part of our sales losses.
Best,
Jonathan
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I concur, last month at Alamy was dismal. This month a couple sales so far, so some hope for an upswing. It's hard to imagine it getting worse than it was but I'm sending them money, yet.
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I'm not really that fixed on stats and CTR. My CTR for Sept. (1300+ images) was 0.00, my zooms 0 and my sales = 2. :o
If I was going by the stats, the few hundred views yielded nothing in the way of measures, but the sales don't agree. Not complaining of course, but the roll over may have some effect.
Down 30% is overall and that's not in dispute. The larger, all of Alamy figures, are representative of the market and conditions.
Aside from the obvious negatives, there are also some things that caught my attention. "We’re working on some exciting investments for 2010, which include further expansion of direct sales teams, some great new search features for customers, new products, new markets, and a faster service."
New Products? New Markets? ;D